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I was happy to see someone call him out as this has been a major talking point of Trump and his loyalists lately: ignore the things Trump says about admiring Putin or that he accepts his claim to not have colluded what matters is his Russia policy which has been very very tough.
It’s actually a variation on long held narrative of the Trump defenders going back to the election: his supporters take him ‘seriously not literally’, ignore what he says, look at what he does. Of course, this get out of jail free card for the illegitimate ‘President’ where anything he says can be excused as it’s ‘just words’-as he himself put it during the furor over the Hollywood Access video- ignores the fact that words matter, that as a faux ‘President’ his words matter, that for someone with the highest office in the land, words themselves are a kind of policy. After all, how many times has one of Trump’s wild tweets led to concern from his own agencies or world leaders that he just effectuated a reckless change in policy?
In Pompeo’s appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday, Pompeo fell back on this canard often-‘it’s just words, look at the policy of the Administration, which is the President’s policy.’ When he was asked specific questions about Trump’s conduct, he fell back on enumerating the Administration’s policy.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) began the hearing by warning Pompeo he would be facing a group of lawmakers “filled with serious doubts about this White House and its conduct of American foreign policy.”
Pompeo responded to questions about Trump’s conduct by listing actions the administration has taken against the Kremlin and boasting of “sanctions that didn’t take place till this regime took office.”
In other words, he mostly dodged their questions and fell back on general talking points. The issue was Trump’s highly irregular private meeting with Putin in Helsinki that went on for 2 hours. Pompeo would retreat to platitudes like ‘this Administration’s policies haven’t changed…
Bob Corker called him out on this tendency to not answer the questions before him about what specifically did Trump discuss with Putin at their unprecedented two hour summit behind closed doors?
Back to USA Today:
“The committee’s Republican chairman, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who at times has expressed dissatisfaction with Trump in the bluntest of terms, wasted no time in venting to Pompeo.”
In his opening remarks, Corker declared that senators have “serious doubts” about how the administration carries out foreign policy and suggested the White House “is making it up as they go.”
“Later, he and Pompeo had an intense exchange when Corker suggested that Trump intentionally creates distrust in institutions like NATO.”
“Pompeo took issue with Corker’s characterization and argued that Trump has been tougher on Russia than the previous administration.”
“I notice that you are not responding to what I’m saying,” Corker said.
“I think I’ve responded to everything,” Pompeo insisted.
“No, you didn’t,” Corker shot back, which prompted Pompeo to say they just disagree.
“No, we don’t disagree,” Corker said. “Let’s run the transcript.
Pompeo’s claim to have responded to everything doesn’t pass the laugh test. What came across most to me was Pompeo’s arrogance, he displayed his boss’ arrogance and it was clear in what he said that he was here promoting the Trump WH’s spin rather than speaking as a deliberative leader of one of our top international agencies, the State Department.
Like Brett Kavanaugh, Pompeo seems to think Trump is above the law or in this case above the reach of legitimate oversight.
Senator Bob Menendez did a great job of grilling him.
“U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, went toe-to-toe with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as he grilled him over President Donald Trump‘s closed-door meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.”
“At a committee hearing Wednesday, Menendez, D-N.J., kept asking Pompeo what Trump told him about the meeting, which was held without anyone else present except for two translators.”
“The president was very clear with Vladimir Putin about U.S. positions,” Pompeo said. “He spoke about them very firmly and clearly when he met with Vladimir Putin.
And he told you that?” Menendez asked.
Pompeo, however, showed great disrespect towards Menendez and Congress’s role.
“I understand the game that you’re playing,” Pompeo responded.
“I don’t appreciate you characterizing my questions,” Menendez shot back. “My question is to get to the truth. We don’t know what the truth is. The only way we know what the truth is, what transpired in those two hours in a highly amazing period of time to spend alone one on one, is by understanding at least that if you were briefed by the president, what he told you. I don’t think that’s unfair to know.”
No it’s not a question of a ‘game being played’ it’s called Congressional oversight. Pompeo does’t seem to understand what that is. He asserted sweeping platitudes about how the ‘President’ is entitled to privacy, etc.
Pompeo ardently defended the administration’s policies throughout three-hour long hearing but would not provide a clear answer to questions about the President’s conversation with Putin.
“Presidents are permitted to have conversations with their Cabinet members that aren’t repeated in public,” Pompeo asserted.
This was the larger problem in Pompeo’s performance-instead of understanding that his role as the Secretary of State was to brief Congress, to inform them, he saw his role as a Trump campaign operative. The whole point of Congressional oversight is that a great deal of what a ‘President’ speaks to cabinet members about is information the public through their Congressional representatives has a right to know.
UPDATE: As many noted Pompeo seemed to be trying to draw a bright line between the ‘President’s words and his policies. Under tough questioning from both Chris Murphy and Menendez he finally admitted that yes the ‘President’s’ words are policy, though even then Pompeo seemed to be trying to differentiate between ‘talk’ and ‘informal talk.’ But what’s more informal than the Manchurian ‘President’ sitting in his underwear at 3 in the morning sending a deranged tweet about bombing Iran and visiting hell upon them the like the world has never seen?
But do you think the Iranians would dismiss this as mere ‘informal chat?’
A lot of Senators did a good job of calling out Pompeo but the one I appreciated the most was Ben Cardin.
In response to question from @SenatorCardin, Pompeo vaguely lists the things Trump and Putin purportedly talked about during their secret meeting. (Note how vague & evasive he is.) pic.twitter.com/LbDbGPstTo
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 25, 2018
When Pompeo trotted out the canard of how tough Trump has been on Russia, Cardin pointed out that he’s taking credit for the sanctions that Congress passed over Trump’s objections.
Thank you Senator Ben Cardin for calling out Pompeo on this narrative of the Trump loyalists that Trump has been so 'tough on Russia' No, those sanctions were passed by Congress that Trump was slow to implement some of which he's STILL dragging his feet on
— Expand the Court (@ProChoiceMike) July 25, 2018
Cardin makes the point, finally, that Trump implementing sanctions mandated by Congress does not make him "tough on Russia." "What Congress is requiring you to do…all of a sudden you take credit for."
Also notes that many of the mandated sanctions have not been implemented.— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) July 25, 2018
Pompeo’s response was that the sanctions were Trump’s policy as ‘he signed them.’ Sure-as a fait accompli as Congress had the votes to override his veto.
So kudos to the Committee-including a number of Republicans like Corker for calling Pompeo and demanding answers about what Trump actually said to Putin-or to Kim Jong-un. Next they should consider legislation that would scale back Trump’s role in certain aspects of foreign policy.
But Cardin’s calling out this canard that Trump has been so tough on Russia was important as the faux ‘President’ has already taken it to the next level of reductio ad absurdum: as he’s been so ‘tough on Russia’ then obviously Russia is going to collude but to help the Democrats.
It was obvious that Trump would get here eventually. Accept interference but claim that Russia is going to do it in the future to help the Democrats. Maybe even after they take back Congress he’ll claim it was Russia.
But this is what happens when you don’t correct one alternative fact-that Trump has been so tough on Russia; he takes it to the next level, the logical conclusion-ergo, Russia wants the Democrats. Because ‘I’ve been so tough.’
So kudos to Cardin but we need a lot more of that-Democrats must not let Trump and his defenders get away with this canard about how tough he is on Russia.
UPDATE 2.0: Hard to believe but it’s now almost 11 months since this testimony. A major area of interest for Adam Schiff who chairs Intel is wether or not Trump is compromised by Russia and other hostile foreign powers-Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc.
Trump’s erratic foreign policy has only gotten worse. He’s now dismissing North Korea’s missile tests as nothing to worry about-he trusts Kim Jong un.
President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday he doesn’t view North Korea’s short range missile tests as disturbing, a view deeply at odds with his Japanese hosts and in conflict with statements made a day earlier by his national security adviser.
“North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
This is a major blow ahead of his meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which are set to begin in a few hours.
The Japanese government has said North Korea’s recent test of short range missiles violated UN resolutions — a determination that national security adviser John Bolton agreed with in Tokyo on Saturday during a briefing with reporters before Trump arrived in Japan.
But why he’s not ‘disturbed’ by North Korea’s ‘small weapons’ is not hard to see-Kim Jong insulted Joe Biden-after doing that Trump would likely forgive him if he bombed Seoul.
In his tweet, Trump went on to say he smiled when North Korea called former Vice President Joe Biden a low IQ individual.
“I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Bidan (sic) a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?”
Like so much of Trump’s erratic foreign policy the question is two dimensional: what you think of the policy but wether or not you approve why did he do it?
What’s worrisome based on what Andy McCabe has said recently is that Trump has dismissed what his own intel agencies told him about North Korea based on what Putin told him I believe Putin.
There are so many good reasons to impeach this illegitimate ‘President’-starting with the fact that he’s illegitimate. Certainly if he’s compromised and conducting foreign policy not in American interests but in Russian-and/or Saudi-interests that’s an impeachable offense in itself.